SimCity Beta First Impressions

The last time I played a SimCity game, I think the computer was running Windows 3.0 or something and I couldn’t figure out the game. Cut me some slack…I was seven.

SO there was a bit of a learning curve for me when I first started playing with the beta.

I was very, very good at creating ghettos.

I was also good at spending too much cash and forgetting to put in a firehouse.

I think this was also the time I didn’t put in a clinic and everyone started dying on me. Jerks.

Since everyone was dying, I decided screw it and started playing with the filters that come with SimCity. I couldn’t help myself, OK?

The gameplay allowed during the beta was only an hour–though you could play as often as the servers would let you on–and I sucked a lot so my cities stayed small; the largest city I was able to create had just over fifteen thousand pixel people.

I absolutely loved the music and the sound effects.

I hated the zoning and apparently I wasn’t the only one.

@mattgoodyear99 Yeah, probably. Nobody seemed to like the updated zoning.

This video will show you how the zoning looked before the beta–clearly defined sections so you knew exactly how big your space was going to be. If you’ve played SimCity Social on Facebook then you’re familiar with what I’m talking about.

During the beta you plopped down some zoning and hoped for the best.

I’ve read a lot of thoughts on the beta and some of the hardcore mayors out there have been complaining about the graphics. I had my graphics set to medium through the majority of play and I didn’t mind the way the game looked. Yes, some of the texturing was rough and there was some jaggy stuff going on–even when I bumped everything all the way up–but it didn’t take away from the game. It reminded me a lot of creating a “living” miniature model train set…without the train. [No trains in the beta.]

The server issues Maxis was having throughout the weekend were annoying. The issues raised questions about how stable the “always online” thing is going be. Then again, this is the reason you test your game and stress test your servers.

Zombies.

Even with the issues, I still found the game to be damn addictive and I can’t wait to get my hands on the game once it’s released on March 5th.

Pre-order the Limited Edition by clicking the box art. The Digital Deluxe is only available via Origin and you can pre-order that here.